How the Council of Genealogy Columnists (CGC)

Became the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors (ISFHWE)

It was the dream of George H. Miller, a newspaper man and genealogy columnist for The Madison (Indiana) Courier, to form an organization that would meet at least once a year to share the agony and ecstasy of problems peculiar to genealogy writers.

The Council of Genealogy Columnists (CGC) was officially organized 13 May 1987 in Raleigh, North Carolina, at a meeting held in conjunction with National Genealogical Society's annual Conference in the States. At the first business meeting an executive council of CGC — the ECGC — was formed and officers were elected to serve for one year. They were: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, of Los Angeles Times Syndicate, president; and Aulena Scearce Gibson, of Lawton (Oklahoma) Morning Press, secretary. In addition to the president and secretary, the following composed the first ECGC: Regina Hines, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi; Carol Collins, of South Bend, Indiana; Nick Vine Hall, of Sydney, Australia; and Lesta Westmore, of Omaha, Nebraska.

The First Executive Council of CGC [ECGC]

  (1987 NGS at Raleigh, North Carolina.) Left to right:          Regina Hines, Aulena Gibson, Carol Collins, Nick Vine Hall, Lesta Westmore and Myra Vanderpool Gormley

  In May 2000 the name of  the organization was officially changed to the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors (ISFHWE) to more accurately reflect the expanded role of the members of the organization.

Display of award-winning columns at an NGS conference.

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